Digimon Christmas Carol
by Cyrox
Summary: Based on the novel by Charles Dickens. Will three spirits be able to convince Matt to change his ways before he suffers the same fate of his old partner Tai? Completed.
1. Tai's Ghost

Digimon Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens, Digimon characters put in by Cyrox.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Cast: (please don't complain about the choices, these are the best ones I could think of. And yes, I'm aware of how people are related in this.)

Scrooge: Matt

Bob Crachet: Takato

Mrs. Crachet: Jeri

Scrooge's Nephew Fred: TK

Scrooge's Nephew's Wife: Kari

Tiny Tim: Tommy

Other Crachet Kids: Susy, Ai, Mako

Jacob Marley: Tai

Fezziwig: Ken

Fezziwig's Wife: Yolei

Fan: Zoe

Belle: Sora

Ghost of Christmas Past: Mimi

Ghost of Christmas Present: Takuya

Ghost of Christmas Future: Koji

Collectors: Joe and Henry

Boy: Cody

The other characters will be played by the other Digidestined and Tamers and other characters who have appeared in Digimon.

Cyrox: Now that we have the parts down, on with the show. Oh yeah, don't flame me if you don't like whose playing what part.

A Christmas Carol.

Tai was dead to begin with. There was no doubt about it. Tai was as dead as a doornail.

Matt knew that he was dead. Matt and Tai were partners. Matt was his only executor and friend.

Matt never painted out Tai's name. There it stood above the warehouse door: Matt and Tai. Sometimes people new to the business called him Matt, and sometimes Tai, but he answered to both names.

But Matt was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone. Secret, self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. His heart was cold and it never thawed, not even at Christmas.

Nobody ever stopped to greet Matt, but what did Matt care. It was the thing he liked. 

Now our story started on Christmas eve, Matt sat busily in his counting house. It was cold weather with a bit of fog. It was three o'clock, but it was dark already.

The door of Matt's Counting House was open so he could keep his eye on his clerk, who sat in a small cell copying some letters. Matt had a very small fire, but the Clerk's fire was smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it because Matt kept the coal box in his room, and when the clerk came to get some, Matt wouldn't allow him. So the clerk put on his white comforter and tried to warm himself with the candle.

"Merry Christmas Uncle! God save you!" Cried a cheerful voice, it was Matt's nephew.

"Bah!" Matt said. "Humbug!"

"Christmas a humbug uncle? I'm sure you don't mean that?"

"I do! Merry Christmas, what right do you have to be merry? You're poor enough."

"Come then, what right do you have to be so dismal? You're rich enough."

Matt had no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, so he replied "Bah! Humbug!"

"Don't be cross Uncle."

"What else can I be when I live in such a world of fools? Merry Christmas, out upon Merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could have my way, every idiot who says Merry Christmas should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!"

"Uncle!" Pleaded the nephew.

"Nephew, keep Christmas in your own way and let me keep it in mine."

"Keep it? But you don't keep it."

"Leave me alone then. Much good may it do you! Much good has it ever done you!"

"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not made any profits and Christmas is one of them. But I'm sure that Christmas is a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time when men and women can express themselves freely, and think of those who are below them as if they really were their own. And therefore Uncle, even though I have never made any money off of it, I believe that it has done me good."

The clerk in the tank applauded at the words.

"Let me hear another sound from you." Matt said. "And you'll keep Christmas by losing your job. You're quite a powerful speaker sir." He added, turning to his nephew. "I wonder why you don't go into Parliament."

"Don't be angry Uncle. Come dine with us tomorrow."

Matt said that he would see him. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first.

"But why?" Cried Matt's nephew. "Why?"

"Why did you get married?"

"Because I fell in love."

"Because you fell in love! Good afternoon!"

"Nay Uncle, but you never came to see me before this happened. Why don't you give us a reason for not coming now?"

"Good afternoon!"

"I don't want anything from you and I didn't ask anything from you; why can't we be friends?"

"Good afternoon!"

"I'm sorry, with all of my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party, But I have made the trail in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humour to the last. So a Merry Christmas uncle!"

"Good afternoon!"

"And a Happy New Year!"

"Good afternoon!"

His nephew left the room without saying an angry word. He stopped by the door and wished a Merry Christmas to the clerk, who replied with a Merry Christmas of his own.

"Great." Said Matt. "Now my clerk, who gets fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and a family, is talking about a Merry Christmas. I'll retire to Bedlam."

When Scrooge's nephew left, two other people named Joe and Henry entered. They entered Scrooge's office and bowed to him with their books and papers in their hands.

"Matt Ishida and Tai Kamiya I believe." Joe said. "May I have the pleasure of addressing Mr. Ishida or Mr. Kamiya?"

"Tai Kamiya has been dead for seven years on this very night." Matt said.

"Then you must be Mr. Matt Ishida." Henry said as he presented his credentials.

"At his festive season of the year, Mr. Ishida." Joe said as he took out a pen. "It is more than usually desirable that we should make some slightly provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time."

"Are there no prisons?" Matt asked.

"Plenty of prisons." Joe replied.

"And are the union workhouses still in operation?"

"They are still, but I wish they were not."

"The treadmill and the poor law are in full vigor then?"

"Both very busy sir."

"Oh! I was afraid that something had occurred to stop them." Matt said. "I'm very glad to hear it."

"But those things scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude." Henry said. "And a few of us are trying to raise a fund to by the poor some meat and drink and means of warmth. We choose this time because it is a time when people are generous. What should I put you down for?"

"Nothing!" Matt replied.

"You wish to be anonymous?" Joe asked.

"I wish to be left alone!" Matt said. "I don't act merry at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned, they cost enough and those who are badly off must go there!"

"Many can't go there and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population! And it's none of my business. It's enough for a man to understand his own business and not interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon Gentlemen."

Seeing that it would be useless to pursue their point, Joe and Henry left him.

Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so that people could barley see anything. During that time, a boy named Cody stood by his door singing a Christmas carol. But opened the door and answered so fiercely that Cody ran from there. And at the length of the hour when it was time to close the counting house arrived. With an ill wind, Matt dismounted from his stool and tacitly admitted the fact to the expectant clerk at the tank, who instantly snuffed his candle out and put on his hat.

"You'll want all day tomorrow, I suppose?" Matt said.

"If quite convenient sir." The clerk said.

"It's not convenient, and it's not fair. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you'd think yourself ill-used, I'll be bound. And yet you don't think me ill-used when I pay a day's wages for no work."

"But Mr. Ishida, it's only once a year."

"A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December! But I suppose you must have the whole dy. Be here early next morning."

The clerk promised he would and Matt walked out with a growl. The office was closed with a twinkling, and the clerk went down a slide on Cornhill.

After eating his dinner and reading all of the newspapers, Matt went home to bed. He lived in the chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard. It was old and dreary enough for nobody lived in it but Matt, the other rooms being all let out as offices.

Now the only thing different about the knocker was that it was large. And Matt hadn't even thought about Tai that afternoon. But Matt saw the knocker, in the process of change, as Tai's face. It looked exactly like him, even down to his large hair.

As Matt looked at it again and it returned to the shape of a knocker. Now Matt was startled at that. But he put his hand upon the key, turned it, walked in, and lit his candle. Then he locked the door and walked across the hall. He walked slowly up the stairs.

Now Darkness is cheap and Mat liked it. But before he shut the door to his room, he walked through his room to see that all was right. Seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary, he closed his door and double locked himself in. Thus secured against surprise, he took off his cravat, put on his nightgown, slippers, and nightcap, and sat down before the fire to eat his gruel, and thinking about the face of Tai.

"Humbug." He said at the thought of it. Then he heard a clanking noise below him, as if some person were dragging a heavy chain down in the cellar. The cellar door flew open and the noise grew louder on the floors below, then coming up the stairs, then coming straight towards his door.

"Humbug!" Matt shouted. "I won't believe it."

Then something entered his room right before his eyes. Matt knew who it was, it was Tai's ghost. It was Tai, down to the very last detail. But there was a chain around his middle. It was like on long tail with cashboxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.

"How now!" Matt said. "What do you want with me?"

"Much." The ghost said. Matt knew that it had the voice of Tai.

"Who are you?"

"Ask me who I was."

"Who were you then?"

"In life I was your partner, Tai Kamiya." Matt didn't believe the ghost for a second.

"You don't believe in me." Observed the ghost.

"I don't!" Matt replied.

"Why do you doubt?"

"Because a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are. You see this toothpick?" Matt said.

"I do." Replied the ghost.

"You are not looking at it."

"But I see it."

"Well I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation. Humbug, I tell you, humbug!"

At this the spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook its chain with such a dismal and appalling noise, that Matt held on tight to his chair, to save himself from falling in a swoon. Matt fell upon his knees and clasped his hands before his face.

"Mercy!" Matt said. "Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?"

"Man of worldly mind!" Replied the ghost. "Do you believe in me or not?"

"I do! But why do spirits walk the Earth and why do they come to me?"

"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on Earth and turned to happiness."

Again the spirit cried and shook his heavy chains.

"You are fettered." Matt said, trembling. "Tell me why?"

"I wear the chain I forged in life." The ghost said. "I made it link by link and yard by yard. I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"

Matt trembled more and more.

"Or would you know the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself?" The ghost said. "It was full as heavy and as long as this seven Christmas eves ago. You have laboured on it since. It is a ponderous chain!"

Matt glanced at the floor, in the expectation of finding himself surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable: but he could see nothing.

"Tai." Matt said. "Tai Kamiya, tell me more. Speak comfort to me Tai."

"I have none to give." Tai said. "It comes from other regions Matt Ishida, and is conveyed by other ministers, to other kinds of men. Nor can I tell you what I would, a very little more is all permitted to me. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere. My spirit never walked beyond our countinghouse, in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole, and weary journeys lie before me."

"You must have been very slow about it Tai."

"Slow!"

"Seven years dead, and traveling all the time."

"The whole time. No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse."

"You travel fast?"

"On the wings of the wind."

"You might have got over a great quantity of ground in seven years."

The ghost, on hearing this, set up another cry and clanked its chain so hideously in the dead silence of the night, that the ward would have been justified in indicating it for a nuisance.

"Oh captive, bound, and double-ironed." Cried the ghost. "Not to know, that ages of incessant labour by immortal creatures. For this Earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused. Yet such was I! Oh such was I!"

"But you were always a good man of business Tai." Matt said.

"Business!" Cried the ghost, wringing his hands again. "Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealing of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

It held up its chain at arm's length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.

"At this time of the rolling year." The specter said. "I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed star which led the wise men to a poor abode. Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me! Hear me! My time is nearly gone."

"I will. But don't be hard upon me! Don't be flowery Tai! Pray!"

"How is it that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day. That is no light part of my penance. I am here tonight to warn you, that you have a chance and hope of escaping my fate."

"You were always a good friend to me, thank you."

"You will be haunted by three spirits."

"Is that the chance and hope you mentioned Tai?" Matt demanded.

"It is." The ghost said.

"I-I think I'd rather not."

"Without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I've tried. Expect the first tomorrow when the bell toles one."

"Couldn't I take them all on at once and get it over with?"

"Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third upon the next night when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!"

When it had said these words, the ghost walked towards the window and it floated out upon the bleak, dark night. Matt closed the window and examined it. The window was double-locked and none of the bolts had been removed. He thought about the conversation with the ghost, and went straight to bed and fell asleep upon the instant.


	2. The First Spirit

Digimon Christmas Carol: Chapter 2

Matt awoke and only saw darkness outside his window. So he decided to listen to the bell.

He was astonished that the bell rang twelve times.

"That can't be." Matt said. "I fell asleep at two at night, there's no way I could have slept all through the night." Then he started thinking about what Tai said to him, the first spirit was supposed to appear at one. He sat on his bed and waited. Soon he heard the bell and Matt knew that it was one. Then light flashed all over the room and the curtains of his bed were drawn aside and Matt found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor. It was a young girl about his size with bright pink hair. Her dress was white with pink flowers trimmed all over it.

"You must be one of the spirits." Matt said. "Tell me, who are you?"

"I am Mimi, the ghost of Christmas Past." The spirit said.

"Long past?"

"No, your past." Then she put out her hand and grabbed him gently by the arm.

"Rise and walk with me." Mimi said. Matt didn't want to leave his bed, and he knew that his nightgown wouldn't be warm enough for him to go outside. But he couldn't resist her grasp and rose. But then he got nervous as she approached the window.

"I'm mortal." Matt said. "And I will surely fall."

"Take my hand you shall be upheld in more than this." As she said that, the two of them passed through the wall and stood upon a country road filled with fields. The entire city had vanished and the darkness was gone and replaced by a clear, cold winter day.

"Good Heaven!" Matt said in excitement. "This is where I grew up."

"You recollect the way?" Mimi asked him.

"Remember it! Why I could walk it blindfolded."

"Strange that you have forgotten it for so many years." Mimi observed. "Let us go on."

The two of them walked along the road and Matt recognized everything along the way. They continued on until they arrived at a little market town. The town was filled with boys with high spirits and shouted to each other with great joy.

"These are but shadows of things that have been. They can neither see us nor hear us." Mimi explained.

Matt recognized and named every traveler that set foot into the town. In fact, he was rejoicing to see them. He was even filled with gladness to hear them shout out Merry Christmas to each other, But what was a Merry Christmas to Matt, what good has it ever done him.

"The school is not quite deserted." Mimi said. " A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is still there."

Matt knew it and he sobbed. They left the road to the town and soon approached a mansion of red brick, with a little weathercock on the roof, and a bell hanging in it. Matt and Mimi entered and went across the hall, to a door at the back of the house. The door was open and inside they saw a room filled with plain deal forms and desks. At one of these was a lonely boy reading near a feeble fire. Matt knew that it was him and wept at the sight of his forgotten self.

"Poor boy." Matt said with sorrow. "I wish ... but it's too late now."

"What's the matter?" Mimi asked.

"Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should have given him something, that's all."

Mimi smiled and said "Let's see another Christmas." As she took Matt's hand. Matt noticed that his younger self was growing older and the room was getting darker and dirtier. Matt looked at Mimi and shook his head in sorrow. Then he glanced towards the door.

It opened and a blonde girl, who was a few years younger then the boy, rushed into the room and threw her arms around the boy's neck and kissing him.

"Dear Brother." She said. "I have come to bring you home."

"Home Zoe?" The boy returned.

"Yes." She said in a cheerful tone. "Home forever. Father is so much kinder then he used to be, he spoke to me so gently one night that I wasn't afraid to ask him if you could come home, and he said yes, and sent me a coach so I could bring you. Father still wants you to be a man, but first we're going to spend Christmas time together."

"You are quite a young woman Zoe."

"Always a delicate creature." Mimi said. "She had a large heart."

"Indeed she did." Matt said. "I'll never forget her spirit."

"She died a woman and I think she had children too."

"One child."

"Yes, it was your nephew."

"Yes it was."

At the time, they left the school and found themselves in a large city. It was Christmas time there too and the streets were filled with lights. The ghost stopped by the door to a warehouse.

"Do you know this place Matt?" Mimi asked him.

"Know it!" Matt said. "Why I was an apprentice here."

They went in and found a man with a welsh wig over his short, dark hair. Matt cried in excitement.

"Why it's Ken! Bless his heart, he's alive again!"

Ken laid down his pen and looked up at the clock, which pointed at seven.

"Hey Matt, Izzy!" Matt's former self was now a young man. He came in along with his fellow apprentice.

"That's Izzy Izumi." Matt said to Mimi.

"Come on guys." Ken said. "It's Christmas Eve, so there will be no more work tonight. And let's have the shutters up!" Soon both the younger version of Matt and Izzy got the shutters up, everyone they could find.

"Now let's clear everything away, make sure there's plenty of room." Ken said. Soon the room was lighter and filled with a large fire and the room was warmer. Great food was filled all throughout the room, and fiddlers filled the room and the warehouse was turned into a house was transformed into a ball room.

Then Ken's wife Yolei entered the room and other young boys and girls followed her. Soon Ken and Yolei started dancing together and some of the other young boys and girls were dancing too. Even young Matt had a good time as a young girl with reddish brown hair approached him and soon the two of them were dancing. Then when the clock struck eleven, the ball broke up and Ken and Yolei greeted everyone as they left the room.

During the time, Matt had enjoyed himself more then he'd ever have. He recognized and pointed out every fact about the whole experience.

"A small matter to make these silly fools so full of gratitude." Mimi said.

"Small!" Matt echoed her.

Mimi pointed out that the two appetences were pouring their hearts out, giving praise to Ken, and after that she said.

"Why is it no? He has spent only a few pounds of your mortal money, is that so much that he deserves praise?"

"It isn't that." Matt said, heated by the remark and speaking a lot like his former self. "It isn't that spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it costs a fortune."

Matt felt Mimi's glance and stopped.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing particular." Matt said.

"Something I think?"

"No. I just would like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That's all."

Soon Matt watches as his younger self closed up the place and left.

"We must go, my time runs short." Mimi said. Then she took him to a new area. Matt wasn't sure where he was, but again he saw himself, much older than he was before. Next to him was the girl he was with earlier, and she was older too. Matt noticed that she was in tears.

"Sora, what's wrong?" The younger Matt asked her.

"It matters little." Sora said. "To you very little. Another idol has displaced me and if it can cheer and comfort you in the time to come, I have no cause to grieve."

"What idol has displaced you?"

"A golden one."

"This is the even handed dealing of the world! There is nothing on which is so hard as poverty; and there is nothing it professes to condemn with such severity as the power of wealth!"

"You fear the world too much. All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your noble aspirations fall off one by one, until the master passion. Gain engrosses you, have I not?"

"What then." He returned. "Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then? I have not changed towards you."

Sora shook her head.

"Our contract is an old one." She said. "It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, until we could improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry. You have changed, when it was made, you were another man."

"I was a boy!"

"Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are. That which promised happiness when we were one in heart, is fraught with misery now that we are two. It is enough that I have though of it and can release you."

"Have I ever sought release?"

"No."

"In what then?"

"In changed nature, in everything that made my love of any worth or value in your sight. If this had never been between us, tell me, would you seek me out and try to win me now. I don't think you would?"

"You think so."

"I would gladly think otherwise if I could. May you be happy in the life you choose." Then Sora left Matt's former self and the two of them parted.

"Spirit! Show me no more, why do you delight in torturing me?" Matt said. "Please, remove me from this place."

"I told you these were shadows of the past." Mimi said. "They are what they are, do not blame me if you don't like what you see."

"Please remove me, I cannot bare it. Please, haunt me no longer." After Matt said that, Mimi took him and returned him back to his bed. Matt quickly sank into a heavy sleep after that.


	3. The Second Spirit

Digimon Christmas Carol Chapter 3

  
  


Matt awoke in the middle of the night and sat up in his bed to get his thoughts together. He was waiting for the second spirit that Tai had said would come. He was wondering what the spirit would be like, and nervous because he didn't like surprises. But at that point, he was prepared for anything. Then the bell struck one and he waited for a while, but nothing came.

Then a bright light shone in the room, a ghostly light. Then Matt heard someone call out his name and he obeyed. He was sure that it was his own room, but it looked different. The walls and ceiling were hung with wreaths and all kinds of green Christmas decorations. And before him was a table filled with turkeys, geese, mine-pies, plum puddings, oysters, chestnuts, apples, oranges, pears, cakes, and a big bowl of punch. And sitting on the couch eating some of the food was a man around his size.

"Come in!" The ghost said when he spotted Matt. "Come in and know me better, man!"

Matt entered, but he hung his head low, not wanting to gaze at the spirits cheerful eyes.

"I am Takuya, the ghost of Christmas Present." The spirit said. "Look at me."

Matt did so and saw Takuya. His hair was dark and he wore a green robe and had goggles on his head.

"You have never seen the likes of me before!" Takuya said.

"No, never." Matt answered.

"Have never walked forth with the younger members of my family?"

"I don't think I have. How many brothers and sisters do you have spirit?"

"More then eight-hundred."

"A large family."

"True." Takuya said as he rose.

"Spirit." Matt begged. "Please tell me where you are going. I left last night on compulsion and I learnt a lesson which is working right now. Please, if you want to teach me, let me gain more by knowing where we are going."

"Touch my robe." Takuya said and Matt obeyed him. Then the room and all food inside it disappeared and they found themselves in the city streets on Christmas morning. The streets were filled with people, even on a day as cold as that. But nobody noticed them because Takuya said that they can't see either of them. The entire town was decorated and every place but the grocers were closed. Everyone in town was heading to the church. And even though the bakers were closed, the smell of their goods filled the air.

"Spirit." Matt said. "Is there a peculiar flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch?"

"There is." Takuya said. "My own."

"Do you plan to use it on any kind of dinner today?"

"To any kindly given to a poor one."

"Why the poor?"

"Because they need it the most."

"Spirit." Matt said. "I wonder why you should desire to cramp these people's opportunities of innocent enjoyment."

"I."

"You would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day, often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all. Wouldn't you?"

"I."

"You seek to close these places on the seventh day?"

"I seek."

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it has been done in your name, or at least in the name of your family."

"There are some upon the Earth who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name. Remember that and hold it against them, not us." Once Takuya finished, he took Matt to a place. It was a house that looked a little run down. It was the house of Matt's clerk, Takato Matsuki.

Inside there was Takato's wife, Jeri, was cooking the food for their dinner with her two daughters, Susy and Ai. While her son, Mako, was bringing some wood in for the fire.

"Is that enough mother?" Mako asked.

"That should be enough." Jeri told him.

"I think we're ready mother." Ai said.

"So are we ready?" Susy asked.

"We'll be ready as soon as father and Tommy come back from church." Jeri told them.

Then Takato entered with little Tommy on his shoulder. Takato let Tommy down and under Tommy's arm was a little crutch that was holding him up. All the kids ran over to their father to greet him.

"Hi kids." Takato said.

"Hi father." Susy, Ai, and Mako said.

"So how did Tommy behave?" Jeri asked him.

"As good as gold." Takato told her. "And maybe even better. He's so insightful and hopes that he could be a memory of how one day the lame will walk and the blind will see."

Takato and Jeri both looked at him and they both trembled when Takato said that Tommy was getting a little stronger and more active. Both Ai and Mako led Tommy to his stool by the fire where he sat down and rested. Then the other kids went to fetch the Christmas goose, which they brought back very quickly. Then all of the other Matsuki's helped make the rest of the dinner and Takato placed Tommy into his stool at the table.

The family never had such a goose, despite it's size and price, the whole family was happy. They found that it was a great delight to them and found that it was enough for them to eat. And after the goose was finished, Jeri left the table and brought out the pudding, it didn't look too good ether, but Takato and the kids were happy with it. And after dinner, Takato called everyone together to propose a toast.

"A Merry Christmas to us all!" Takato said. "God bless us." And after that, the family echoed him.

"God bless us every one." Tommy said. Takato hugged his little child, with the hopes of keeping him with them forever.

"Spirit, tell me if Tiny Tommy will live?" Matt asked.

"If these shadows remain unaltered." Takuya started. "I see an empty stool in the chimney corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved."

"No kind spirit!" Matt begged. "Tell me he will be spared."

"If these shadows remain unchanged, then none of my kin will ever find him here. And besides, if he should die, he should do it quickly and decrease the surplus population."

Matt hung his head low to hear Takuya use his own words.

"Man." Takuya said. "If man you be in heart forbear that wickedness until you have discovered. What the surplus is and where it is, will you decide who shall live and who shall die? It may be that you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child."

Matt understood Takuya's rebuke and hung his head low until he heard his name.

"To Matt Ishida, the founder of the feast!" Takato said.

"The founder of the feast indeed!" Jeri cried. "If he were here right now, I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon and he'd better have a good appetite."

"But Jeri, it's Christmas."

"It should be Christmas day, on which one drinks the health of such an odious and stingy man as Mr. Ishida. But I'll drink to his health for your sake and because it's Christmas."

Then the children followed after Jeri. Tommy drank last of all, but he didn't care about Matt being an ogre to the family.

After that, Takuya took Matt to another house, a house that was filled with laughter and cheer. Then Takuya and Matt went into the house and there Matt saw his nephew laughing with a group of his friends.

"And then he said that Christmas was a humbug as I live." His nephew said.

"More shame for him TK." Said TK's wife and Matt's niece Kari. Kari was a beautiful young girl with short brown hair and a cute smile.

"He does have a nice side, although it is impossible to see it."

"You did say he was very rich, didn't you TK?"

"Yes, but he never uses his wealth, it's just there in his mind. And I doubt he'll help us with it."

"I have no more patience with him." Kari said and everyone else expressed the same opinion.

"Well I still have." TK answered. "I couldn't be mad at him if I tried to be. And besides, I kinda feel sorry for him, he lives alone and suffers ill whims. And he keeps repeating in his mind that he dislikes us and that's why he probably didn't want to come to dinner."

Matt looked at what was going on and knew that they were all talking about him.

"Hey, I have an idea for a game." TK said. "Why don't we play a game where I think of something and give you clues and you guys try to guess it."

"Sounds fun." Kazu said. "So what's the first clue."

"It's something vicious."

"Is it a bear?" Kenta asked.

"A lion?" Kazu asked.

"No." TK said. "It's very cold."

"Is it a rat?" Derek asked.

"A snake?" Kari asked.

"A wolf?" Matt said, forgetting that they couldn't hear him.

"A wolf?" Rosa asked.

"I just said that." Matt said, then Takuya reminded him that they couldn't hear him.

"No." TK said. "It's a solitary creature."

"How about a weasel?" Michael said.

"No, it must be a fox." JP said.

"Still not right." TK said with a laugh.

"I know." Catherine said. "It's your uncle Matt Ishida."

"You're right." TK said as everybody laughed. Matt just hung his head low after hearing that. They left the place just as the bell started to strike twelve.

"My time is almost up." Takuya said. "But you still have one more spirit left. His name is Koji." Then Takuya vanished and Matt was wandering the streets until he found a person in a hood.


	4. The Final Spirit

Digimon Christmas Carol Final Chapter

  
  


Matt looked at the cloaked person. He was tall and his face was covered by the hood.

"You are Koji, the ghost of Christmas yet to come, right?" Matt asked. Koji gave no answer, he just nodded and pointed.

"You're going to show me things that have not happened, yet will later on right?" Koji just pointed, Matt was anxious yet nervous about what he was going to see.

"Spirit of the future." Matt said. "I fear you more than any other spirit. But I know your purpose is to do good, and as I hope to live to be a new man. I'm want to be with you, but will you not speak to me?" Koji gave him no reply and continued to point.

"Lead on spirit." Matt said. Koji started walking and Matt followed him to what looked like the city, but it looked darker and there were people all over the town. Koji pointed to two people who were talking and Matt approached them to hear what they were saying.

"No." The first person said. "Don't know much about it. All I know is that he is dead."

"When did he die Willis?" Another asked.

"Last night I believe." Willis said.

"What was the matter with him?" Asked a girl who just entered. "I thought he'd never die."

"God knows Rika." He said.

"What has he done with his money?" The second guy asked.

"I haven't heard Lou. Probably left it too his company, all I know is that I didn't get it." Everyone laughed after that remark.

"It's likely he had a very cheap funeral." Willis continued. "Of coarse I don't know if anybody's going to it. But I suppose we could volunteer and have a party for him."

"As long as there are snacks there." Lou said, causing more laughter.

"Well I am the most disinterested in this subject." Willis continued. "We never really were close friends. Well, bye." Then everyone left. Matt turned to Koji for an explanation. But Koji continued to say nothing and led Matt onto another street with two people on it. Matt knew that those people were Ryo and Jim, two great business men.

"How are you?" Shin asked.

"Fine, how are you?" Ryo returned.

"Well, I heard that old scratch has got his own at last."

"So I have heard. Cold isn't it?"

"Seasonable for Christmas. So are you a skater."

"No. Well, good morning."

Then the two of them left without saying another word. Matt had no idea why Koji wanted him to listen to these conversations. He thought that they were no importance to him. But he wondered what they could be. He thought they might have something to do with Tai Kamiya, but he knew that it was the past and not the future. And he couldn't think of anyone else he knew who was like that. But he remembered everything they said and waited to observe what he would be like in the future.

Then Koji took the slums of the streets, where the lower class, poor, and drunks hanged out. They approached a low class shop that was filled with all kinds of junk. Running it was a man with reddish brown hair. And soon three women approached.

"Well Davis." The first one said. "We picked up some stuff from that miser."

"Excellent." Davis said to them. "We should get a good deal for it. Why don't we enter the parlour." Matt and Koji followed Davis and the women as they entered the parlour to his place.

"So Jun what did you pick up?" Davis asked.

"Just some odds and ends." Jun said as she emptied her stuff. The items that were inside were some sheets and towels, two silver spoons, a pair of sugar tongs, and some old boots. Davis looked at all of the objects.

"Well, there's a lot of junk, but I can never say no to a lady." Davis said. "And I would've expected better from him. So what did you get Nikki?"

"All I have is inside here." Nikki said as she handed him a bundle. Davis picked it up and opened it.

"So these must be his bed curtains?" Davis said.

"Yes." Nikki said as the women started laughing. "His bed curtains."

"You don't mean to tell me that you took them, rings and all, with him just lying there?"

"Why not, he doesn't need them anymore."

"You'll do well in this business Nikki." Davis said to her. "So what did you get Ayaka?"

"His blankets." Ayaka said.

"Those are his blankets?" Davis asked.

"Yes, who else could those have belonged too. And he isn't likely to catch a cold without them."

"Well I hope he didn't die by catching something." Davis said, looking up.

"Don't you be afraid of that!" Ayaka told him. "I wasn't so fond of his company that I'd loiter around him for such things, if he did. His shirt was so great you couldn't find a single hole in it. It was the best he had and a fine one too. It would have been wasted if it wasn't for me?"

"Wasted?"

"They would have buried him in it. And somebody id, until I took it off. Besides, he couldn't look uglier in it then without it."

Matt watched in horror as the four of them laughed at all the things they said.

"Spirit." Matt said as he shuddered. "I fear the case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way now. Merciful heaven, what is this!" Koji still didn't say a thing and took him some streets that were familiar to him. When they arrived at a house, he expected to see himself in it, but instead he only found the Matsukis. Matt looked inside, but he only found Jeri and the kids resting around the fire. The house was very quiet, all of the joy that was inside the kids had faded. Mako was just reading a book and Jeri and the girls were only sewing.

"The colour hurts my eyes." Jeri said.

"The colour." Susy said. "Poor Tommy."

"They're better again. It makes them weak by candle light and I don't want to show your father my weak eyes when he comes home. And besides, I think his time has almost come too."

"Past it rather." Mako said. "But I think he has walked a little slower than he used to these few nights."

"I remember walking with him." Ai said. "He walked very fast with Tommy on his shoulder, very fast indeed."

"I remember walking with him too." Susy said.

"And so have I." Mako added.

"He was very light to carry." Jeri said. "And your father loved him so, he was no trouble. And he's coming right now." 

Takato entered the house and Jeri and the kids came to greet him. Takato praised Jeri and the girls for their work and rested.

"They would be long before Sunday." Takato said to Jeri.

"Sunday, you went today Takato." Jeri said.

"Yes my dear. I wish you could have gone. It would have done you good to see how green a place it is. But you'll see it often. I promised him I'd walk there on a Sunday."

Takato started crying at the thought of it and the family came to comfort him. In the corner Matt noticed a stool by the fire, and a crutch without an owner. Matt's heart was heavy at the sight of that.

Then Koji pointed to a churchyard with an iron gate. They walked over there and Koji pushed the gate open. Then he stretched out his arm and pointed to something. Matt looked and saw that it was a tombstone, a grave far from others.

"Spirit." Matt said. "Before I look upon that stone to which you point, please answer this one question. Are these the shadows of what will happen, or are these shadows of things that might happen?"

Koji still said nothing and continued to point. Matt walked over to the stone and slowly read the name on it. Matt was shocked by what he read, Matt Ishida. Matt fell to his knees.

"Am I the one who laid upon his bed and died alone?"

Koji just pointed to Matt and back again.

"Spirit hear me!" Matt cried as he grasped Koji's cloak. "I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been for this intercourse. Why show me this if I am past all hope! I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the past, the present, and the future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh tell me I may sponge away with the writing on this stone!"

Matt continued to hold on the Koji's cloak and had his hands in prayer formation. Then the cloak collapsed and turned into a bed post.

Matt found himself back in his room, everything was there. Matt was overjoyed at the sight.

"I will live in the past, present, and future." Matt said. "The spirits of all three will strive within me. Thank you Tai, heaven, and Christmas time." Then he looked at his stuff.

"My bed curtains are here." Matt said as he held one. "I don't know what to do, I'm just so happy. Merry Christmas to everybody and a Happy New Year too. I don't know what time it is, but it is still a time to be merry."

Matt looked out his window and saw clear weather. He noticed Cody down there too.

"You there!" Matt called down from the window. "What day is it today?"

"Why it's Christmas day!" Cody called back.

"It's Christmas day!" Matt said to himself. "I haven't missed it. The spirits have done it all in one night! But they can do anything. Hello my young friend."

"Hello." Cody called back.

"Do you know where the Poulterers is?"

"I sure do."

"Great! Do you know if they've sold their prize turkey that was hanging in the window?"

"The one that's as big as me?"

"Yes that's the one."

"It's there right now."

"Here, take this shilling and buy it. Then tell them to bring it back to me and I'll tell them where to send it. Come back in five minutes and I'll give you half a crown."

"I will sir." Cody said as he rushed to the store.

"I'll send it to Takato." Matt said. "Boy will he and his family be surprised."

Then Matt wrote the address down and shortly after that, the turkey arrived. Matt gave them the address, but told them not to tell Takato who sent it.

Matt went about the streets greeting everyone he saw. They were all surprised because they knew who Matt was, but were still willing to greet him. He had not gone far when he noticed Joe and Henry on the streets. He ran over to them when he saw them.

"Good day gentlemen." Matt said. "How do you do? I hope you succeed in your fund raiser. And Merry Christmas."

"Mr. Ishida?" Henry asked.

"Yes that's my name. I know it's has a bad reputation, but I'm here to bring good will towards men with this." Matt said as he whispered something to them.

"Mr. Ishida are you serious?" Joe asked.

"Sure am." Matt said. "And not a farthing less."

"Sir, I don't know what to say?" Henry said.

"Don't say a thing please." Matt said. "And come and see me later on."

"We will" Joe said as Matt continued along the way. Then he approached the house of his nephew and knocked on the door. TK and Kari both answered this.

"TK, how nice it is to see you!" Matt said.

Both were shocked to see Matt like this.

"Uncle?" TK said.

"That's right, I've come to tell you that I want to dine with you. Will you let me?"

"Sure thing." TK said.

"Thanks." Matt said. And Matt did, he dined with them and played all the games with TK, Kari, and their friends.

The next morning came and Matt waited outside of his counting house and waited for Takato. Takato arrived and saw Matt, not looking very happy.

"Hello." Matt said to him in a gruff voice. "What business do you have by coming at this hour?"

"I'm very sorry sir, I am behind my time." Takato answered.

"I have noticed." Matt said. "Step this way sir."

"It's only once a year sir, it shall not be repeated."

"I will not tolerate this any longer! I'm going to increase your salary."

Takato was nervous about what Matt was going to do with him, until he heard the last part.

"A Merry Christmas Takato." Matt continued. "I'm going to raise your salary and help with your struggling family. We'll discuss it this afternoon at lunch. And another thing, why don't you buy some more coal for your fire too."

______________________________________________________

Matt was better than his word. He did it all and infinitely more; and to Tommy, who did not die, he became a second father. He was a good friend to everyone in town and as good as a man could get. People wondered what changed Matt around, but Matt didn't care, he knew it wasn't something on Earth that changed him.

Matt never had another intercourse with the spirits, but lived up to what they wanted him to be. And he knew how to keep the morals within him. And as Tommy observed, God bless us, everyone!

The End.


End file.
